Father gave son steroids, probe finds
Father gave son steroids, probe finds, By: Stephen Hudak
James Gahan, 41, pleads guilty in a case that also snares his child's personal trainer.
August 28, 2007
Like many fathers of budding athletes, James Gahan sought an edge for his 13-year-old son, a record-setting and world-ranked inline speed skater.
But Corey Gahan got faster illegally, a federal probe determined.
The 2004 teenage national champion from Lady Lake cheated, using steroids and human growth hormones that were provided to him by his father, who has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges.
"It shows the lengths to which some parents will go to win at all costs through their children," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency general counsel Travis Tygart said Monday. "It's the worst kind of scenario: putting a child's health and future at risk."
James Gahan, 41, who listed an address in New Smyrna Beach after his Lake County home was lost to foreclosure, faces up to 10 years in federal prison, said Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa.
Court documents show the prescriptions for the boy's illegal substances were filled by Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, which was raided earlier this year during an investigation of steroids in professional sports.
Corey Gahan was 14 in May 2004 when he first failed a drug test that was administered by the USADA, which also supervises tests for the nation's Olympic athletes. He then was forced to withdraw from an inline speed-skating world championship in China. His two-year ban from competition ended Saturday, a day after his father pleaded guilty.
The teen also was forced to forfeit skating medals, titles and a national indoor record in the 1,500-meters for his age group.
Tygart said the case is thought to be the first -- and so far only -- in the United States in which a parent of a world-class athlete was charged with providing steroids to boost a child's performance.
Federal authorities said the investigation also has led to the conviction of the teen's personal trainer, Phillip C. Pavicic, and John Todd Miller, who operated a Tampa-area "wellness" center that distributed steroids.
James Gahan, who once headed a mortgage-services business in Central Florida, also obtained steroids and human growth hormone in his own name from an unidentified DeLand doctor. Gahan then mailed the drugs to his son, who was living and training in North Carolina, according to facts listed in the father's plea agreement.
After failing three drug tests, Corey Gahan was questioned about steroids by law enforcement. Investigators said he lied about his father's involvement.
The boy told authorities he didn't want to get his father in trouble.
Gahan, who pleaded guilty to distributing the anabolic steroid testosterone to a minor, was in federal custody Monday and could not be reached for comment.
His lawyer, Thomas Ostrander of Bradenton, did not immediately return a message left with his answering service.
